Racing Results 2014
Rounds 1 & 2 Silverstone: 6th April 2014
- 2 Race wins for Mark Biggers
- Class wins for Peter Challis, Simon Deaton, Kevin Wendt (x2), and Ian Craig (x2)
Qualifying:
Overnight rain and an early start meant a wet qualifiying session. But the buzz in the paddock was created by the presence of Sir Chris Hoy; THAT Sir Chris Hoy, the multiple Olympic Gold medal winner. Hoy was running one of three Sony Play Station entered Nissan 370z cars, in his case as a prelude to an announcement shortly after that he would be contesting GT3 with NIssan this year.
The wet conditions favoured the four wheel drive cars, so no surprise to see them annex the first four places. Mark Biggers (Nissan Skyline) topped the charts in his first race with our series, followed by the Mitsubishi Evos of Peter Cook and Gary Prebble. Fourth place was the Escort Cosworth of Malcolm Wise, running with us as part of the returning Ford Racing series - our grid also had the smart cars out bringing up grid numbers to 27.
First of the two wheel drive cars was Kevin Wendt (BMW M3), narrowly ahead of the leading Class A1 cars, the Porsche 997 Cup cars of Simon Deaton and Peter Challis. Hoy in the lead 370z was 8th with Steve Putt (Mazda RX7) and Doug Ellwood (Marcos Mantis) making up the top ten. Adam Prebble (Rover Tomcat) took the Class C pole and 14th overall, 5 places ahead of main rival Ian Craig (BMW M3).
Race 1:
By the time of race 1, the rain had stopped and the track was officially damp, but dry tyres would be the order of the day. Cook, Deaton and Putt had pre-race issues causing Cook and Deaton to start at the back, and Putt to start from the pitlane, navigating their way through the smart cars. Biggers' Skyline was immense pulling out a 5 second lead from Prebble in the first lap alone. Challis and Hoy made good starts and ended the opening lap in 3rd and 4th respectively, Wendt being the big first lap loser dropping from 5th to 9th.
Prebble was able to pick up the pace on lap 2 and lost just a single second to Biggers, by lap 3 Biggers was already lapping the smart cars, the gap back to Prebble remaining constant around 6 or 7 seconds. By lap 5, Wendt had recovered and repassed Hoy to move back into 4th place, while Challis was running a lonely 3rd. Putt and Deaton were making slow progress through the pack, but Cook was running very slowly and pulled out after 4 laps.
Six laps in, Biggers' lead over Prebble was up to 9 seconds as the Skyline posted the first sub-61 second lap of the race, the following lap Prebble retired from the race leaving Challis 2nd, but 18 seconds adrift, with Wendt and Hoy 3rd and 4th. Hoy started to close on Wendt on lap 9, pulling back almost 2 seconds, and 2.5 more the next lap. The gap was now down to a second, but Hoy was flying and moved up into 3rd on lap 12, from whence he continued to pull away.
By lap 15, Biggers now led Challis by 32 seconds, Hoy was a full minute behind Biggers, these three being the only cars left on the lead lap. Biggers would lap Hoy on 17 on his way to a comfortable race win, and a fastest lap of 59.946. Challis finished on the lead lap some 39 seconds after Biggers, while Deaton and Putt put their back of the grid starts behind them finishing 5th and 6th. Ian Craig had found the pace he was missing in qualifying taking the Class C win and 9th overall, the Class B win having gone to Wendt in 4th.
Race 2 - Sunday:
Race 2 and proper dry conditions. Putt again started from pit lane with clutch issues that required a push-start, but would retire at the end of the first lap with broken engine and turbo. Biggers' lead this time was just 2 seconds, with Challis and Hoy barely a car length apart at the end of the first lap, Wendt, Deaton and Perara (Toyota Supra) in hot pursuit. Wendt dropped to 11th on lap 2, the order was now Biggers, Challis, Hoy, Deaton, then 3 seconds back to Perara. Biggers started to extend his lead over Challis, while Deaton was closing in on Hoy. Deaton would move up into third on lap 7, and was now chasing down Challis. The recovering Wendt was back to 5th but 8 seconds behind Hoy.
Wendt was now running faster than Hoy, on average about a second a lap. while further forwards, Deaton was now on Challis' rear bumper. Deaton would finally pass Challis on lap 16, while Hoy managed to stabilise the gap to Wendt at 8 seconds for the latter part of the race. Biggers took the chequered flag for a perfect points haul 8 seconds ahead of Deaton, in turn 2 seconds ahead of Challis, Hoy not making the podium and having to settle for 4th.
Wendt finished 5th to take his second Class B win of the day, Adam Prebble had retired leaving Craig to take his second Class C win of the day, although Craig was leading at the point where Prebble pulled off.
Simon Deaton leads the championship and Class A1 (Sports Cars) on 42 points from Peter Challis (A1) and Mark Biggers (A2 - Saloon cars), while Porsche take an early 80-60 point lead over BMW in the MSE-Performance.com Manufacturers Cup.
Next time out is Rockingham on 17/18 May.
With support from :
Mark Fish Motorsport, MSE-Performance.com & LMA Performance
Report by Trevor Nicosia, Car 10 (www.nyssaracing.com )
Click here to link to the full TSL Timing results pdf of the meeting